![The common chimp (Pan troglodytes) and human Y chromosomes are “horrendously different from each other”, says David Page of the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research in Cambridge, Massachusetts, who led the work. “It looks like there’s been a dramatic renovation or reinvention of the Y chromosome in the chimpanzee and human lineages.” [..] “The Y is full of surprises,” Page says. “When we sequenced the chimp genome people thought we’d understand why we have language and write poetry. But one of the most dramatic differences turns out to be sperm production.”
The fickle Y chromosome - Nature, 14 January 2010 - page 149](http://26.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_kyeajnuDlD1qzizlko1_500.jpg)
The common chimp (Pan troglodytes) and human Y chromosomes are “horrendously different from each other”, says David Page of the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research in Cambridge, Massachusetts, who led the work. “It looks like there’s been a dramatic renovation or reinvention of the Y chromosome in the chimpanzee and human lineages.” [..] “The Y is full of surprises,” Page says. “When we sequenced the chimp genome people thought we’d understand why we have language and write poetry. But one of the most dramatic differences turns out to be sperm production.”
The fickle Y chromosome - Nature, 14 January 2010 - page 149
Rasmussen et al. have sequenced the genome of a man from the Saqqaq culture, using DNA from hair preserved in permafrost in Greenland. They analysed the genome to find single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) — differences in single DNA base pairs that exist between individual genomes, and that may act as markers of an individual’s physical traits. a, Here, a short stretch of human DNA is shown that is a marker for normal earwax. b, In the analogous DNA from the Saqqaq individual, there is a SNP in which a C in the lower strand has been replaced by a T (C, G, T and A denote the four kinds of DNA base). This SNP shows that the Saqqaq man had dry earwax. Via.
Part of the Sumedicina project, this is a visualization of a viral DNA sequence. It’s a fictional virus that happens to share its name with an isolate of the Taura syndrome virus, also called 2KMX. TSV has a single-stranded RNA genome, and infects a number of species including the whiteleg shrimp Litopenaeus vannamei, which is actually a closet prawn.
Image via Flowing Data and created by Kim Asendorf.
proofmathisbeautiful: scienceisbeauty:
Drosophila gene expression data exploration and visualization (link)
